Rarakau Lodge sits right at the western trailhead of the South Coast Track, at the Rarakau car park on Bluecliffs Beach — so your walk, or your recovery from it, can start the moment you step outside.
The track runs roughly 61 km east from Bluecliffs Beach through the Waitutu Forest — the largest remaining tract of unmodified lowland forest in New Zealand — and along a wild, seldom-visited stretch of Fiordland's south coast, finishing at Big River.
It's split into four distinct legs, each with its own hut and character: an easier introductory day along the beach and old tramway to Port Craig, followed by three progressively remoter days through Wairaurahiri and Waitutu.
Track Sections
Times are Department of Conservation estimates and will vary with your fitness, the weather and river levels. Many guests walk as far as Port Craig and back as a satisfying one-night trip.
Huts Along the Way
- Port Craig School Hut & Lodge — a former schoolhouse turned DOC hut, plus a private lodge sleeping up to 40 at the old timber town of Port Craig. Book the lodge ahead through the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track office. See photos & details →
- Wairaurahiri Hut — a DOC hut beside the Wairaurahiri River, and a popular jet-boat exit point for trampers who'd rather not walk the whole way back.
- Waitutu Hut — deep in the Waitutu Forest, reached via a stretch DOC describes as demanding “high level backcountry skills.”
- Westies Hut — a small shelter built into a sea cave at Prices Harbour, about 2 km past Big River. See photos & details →
A Working Coast, Once
Long before it was a tramping route, this coast was a working one. Port Craig was a timber town of over 200 people through the 1920s, its sawmill fed by logs hauled along a 14 km bush tramway. Four wooden viaducts were built to carry that tramway over deep gullies — Percy Burn, the largest, still stands today.
When the mill closed in 1928, the bush began reclaiming the town. What's left — the viaducts, wharf pilings and rusting machinery — are now some of the trail's most memorable landmarks.
Photos: Port Craig sawmill, 1921, Auckland Weekly News (public domain). Percy Burn Viaduct by Tomas Sobek (CC BY 2.0). Port Craig wharf, Lidgerwood hauler remains and log cart remains by Thorney (CC BY-SA 3.0). Mussel Beach by André Richard Chalmers (CC BY-SA 4.0). Via Wikimedia Commons.
Highlights
- Crossing the historic Percy Burn Viaduct, the largest timber viaduct in New Zealand
- Hector's dolphins, often spotted off Te Waewae Bay
- The Waitutu Forest — New Zealand's largest tract of unmodified lowland forest
- Remains of the Port Craig timber town: wharf, tramway and old machinery
- A genuinely remote alternative to the popular Hump Ridge Track
- An optional Wairaurahiri River jet boat exit for a shorter trip
Getting to the Trailhead
The track starts and finishes at the Rarakau car park, right beside the lodge, at the end of Papatotara Coast Road (the last 7 km unsealed). Leave your car with us free of charge for the length of your walk — see our Carpark page for details — and come back to a hot shower and a real bed instead of a tent.
Before You Go
This is a remote, exposed coastline: expect unbridged streams, tidal sections and fast-changing Fiordland weather, especially beyond Port Craig. The final leg to Big River is a route rather than a formed track, and is recommended for experienced trampers only.
Check current hut, weather and river conditions with the Department of Conservation before you set out.
For a longer, tougher trip, the Teal Bay Track branches off near Track Burn and climbs over Hump Ridge to Teal Bay Hut on Lake Hauroko — New Zealand's deepest lake.